MOTU M4 4x4 USB-C Audio Interface

Purchased this in 2021 and have no been disappointed yet. I also own the the MOTU 2048 mk3 interface for about 7 years now and it is still going strong which prompted me to stay in the MOTU brand.This interface is a top-notch audio interface that delivers exceptional sound quality, user-friendly functionality, and a robust build. It's an excellent choice for musicians and producers who demand high-quality audio at an affordable price. I use it as an input for stream.Key features include:Superior Sound Quality: Crystal-clear audio reproduction for both input and output.Intuitive Design: Easy to set up and use, even for beginners.Durable Construction: Built to last with high-quality materials.I will continue to recommend this brand and this interface

Upgraded from a Focusrite Scarlett to the Motu M4 for a couple reason. I heard that this was an upgrade in terms of audio quality, which is good but it's also just the interface, so it's not going to be a big change. It can also give more gain to the monitoring headphones, which is something I was looking for since my headphones were starting to hit the maximum of what the Scarlett could give. The main feature I was interested in with this upgrade are the two line in inputs on the back. This is mostly meant for instruments, but I was interested in using this for rhythm games.If you've played a rhythm game at home before, you know that you need the lowest latency you can get with your audio. Often times, the best way to make it work is to directly connect speakers to the device or use the device's own speakers. This works great if that's the only thing you're doing, but there are times where that's not the case. I often find myself on my desktop listening to a video in the background if I'm playing casually or talking to my friends along with screensharing the game. In these cases, there are two options for listening to both at once: buy a dedicated mixer or plug the outgoing audio directly to the computer. Using a mixer does work, but I found it to be a hassle to set up. An extra usb port for power, extra wires being looped around my desk, and carefully setting everything up to not introduce any noise (admittedly, that's probably because I went cheap on the mixer). All that just to play one game for an hour did not feel worth it. The easiest alternative is to directly connect the audio to the computer and listen to the playback, but Windows likes to introduce extra latency in the process. It's not enough to ruin every game, but for rhythm games especially, it's easy to notice the difference between this method and directly plugging in headphones.This leads to why I was interested in the Motu M4. The back 3 and 4 inputs are line inputs, exactly like how I had the audio currently connected to the computer. They're similarly passed to the computer as an audio input, so I can bring the audio over for screensharing. The real benefit to having this connected to the audio interface itself is that these inputs can be directly monitored. Just like the microphone on the Scarlett, monitoring these inputs directly has practically no latency. Monitoring these inputs still allows the audio from the computer to go through, which gives the exact setup I was looking for!The main concern I still had before getting this was the volume of this input. Many people were complaining that the gain is a little low and would need an external amplifier to make usable in many situations. However, I could never find anyone discussing it in terms of the use case I was looking for, so I wasn't sure how well it would work. I'm happy to say this this worked very well for me, but I do want to add some details to that. I did find it to be a little low at the start, leading me to raise the volume almost to max while before I had it a little over half. I also had to mess around a bit with the volume of everything involved. There's a knob that balances between the computer audio and the direct monitored audio, so as long as you have some leeway in headphone volume or computer volume, you should be able to make it work. That doesn't affect the recorded volume though, so you'll want to make sure that other's listening through a screenshare can hear the game fine. Lastly I'm used to listening to things at a bit of a lower volume than others, so if you like to have things loud and would want both of these sources to do that, this setup may not be perfect for you.At the end of the day, the Motu M4 gave me exactly the setup I was looking for without all the extra clutter of a mixer with my previous audio interface. If you have been looking for a setup like this for a similarly specific reason, I think this is worth trying out.

I replaced a interface that cost twice as much with a new MOTU M4 and the improvement is quite obvious. The install was easy, without drama and everything just worked (in Win10). That is not always the case with audio gear. The preamps are better, quieter, with more gain than the other guys and I really like that phantom power is switched per channel, so I can pair a condenser and a dynamic mic or guitar without sending unneeded power to those devices.The meters and monitor out/headphone out are very good, loud and user friendly. I have monitor speakers and 80 ohm headphones connected and use both while working. The meters look great but more than that, they really help set levels accurately. The A2D and D2A converters sound good. The feel of the controls are solid and precise. Plus, there are other clever features like loopback and zero latency monitoring mix and speaking of latency, there is very little to worry about here. The M4 is about twice as quick as my old interface. Overall, it is a great value and a highly usable tool.